Sweet Chili Eggplant & Zucchini with Tofu

 

 If only eggplants didn't take so long to cook...I love eating it otherwise. Smooth and creamy. This made for a great veggie and protein compliment when the meat dish I prepared was on the small side.

Eggplant

Zucchini

Medium firm Tofu

Thai Sweet Chili sauce

Green onions

I tossed the veggies in oil and then pan seared them. I like my eggplant soft so I cook it until it's turns a bit translucent...same goes for the zucchini I also sear the tofu. Then I layer everything into a dish and drizzle as much or as little of the thai sweet chili sauce as you want. Garnish with some fresh green onions. Enjoy!

Kimchi Tofu & Chicken Stew

 

I've made some pseudo kimchi stews, but this is more like the real thing...though maybe less soupy than I've had it at Korean restaurants. Makes perfect use of the leftover kimchi juices when the tub of kimchi is finished. 

Chicken

Tofu
Carrots
Onion
Green onion
Soy sauce
Kimchi juice 

The chicken is marinated in soy sauce and some kimchi juice, then pan seared separately. In a pot I browned the onions then added carrots as those take the longest to cook. Tofu cubes added and once the pot has warmed back up to a simmer, I added chicken and more kimchi juice to the level of soupiness I want. Green onions added last so it retains the green color. I didn't need to add extra water because a lot of moisture comes out of the tofu once you cook it. 

Enjoy!

Not Quite Kim Chi Stew

We finish another bucket of kimchi and all the kimchi juice sat in my fridge waiting to be used. That stuff is too good to be poured down the sink! One day I found the perfect combo of ingredients in the fridge to make something like kimchi stew, but drier. Since I didn't have a whole lot of kimchi juice left.

Napa cabbage
KimChi juice
Sliced pork
Tofu
Green Onions

I pan seared the sliced pork first and then removed it while cooking the napa cabbage. Once it was half done I poured the kimchi juice over it, added tofu, green onions and pork in then just let it simmer until the veggies were soft. Great with rice. Great for a cold day. Enjoy!

Hot or Cold Pasta with Okra

I had never cooked with okra before and wanted to try. I heard it was pretty versatile and could be eaten cooked or raw. It's also supposed to be pretty nutritious. So one Vegetarian Vednesday I whipped this up:

Pasta
Cooked chick peas
Okra
Onion
Premade pasta sauce...from Trader Joes
Pan seared egg tofu

And it was pretty tasty! The okra was crunchy...with a bit of sliminess at the same time. The tastes went well together. And the next day, I ate the leftovers for lunch as a cold pasta salad. Perfectly tasty as well! Love a meal that keeps giving.

Leftover Makeover: Kimchi Edemame Fried Rice

Apologies for the half eaten bowl of rice....I forgot to take the photo first. I've mentioned before how I hate wasting kimchi juice left after eating a tub of the spicy goodness. Well here's another way to use it up. Use it in fried rice! Fried rice is also a great way to use up hard leftover rice. Instead of adding water to reconsitute the rice, I poured in the kimchi juice. I also had leftover buckwheat. And leftover cooked edemame beans. Perfect. For added protein I cut up a medium firm block of tofu into strips...you can't really see them in the photo though.

I let everything simmer under a lid, then stir every now and then until the liquids have dried up and the rice gets a little browned. Yum.

Leftover grains
Kimchi juice
Edemame
Tofu
Salt/Sugar to taste

Leftover Makeover : Indian Sauces

I love a good Indian meal. Their curries and sauces are so rich in flavors. It's also chocked full of so many herbs and spices that makes it hard for me to replicate at home without needing a separate spice cupboard. It's also why Indian food is pricy...those spices add up!

That said, I hate seeing good sauce wasted. Recently I had a butter chicken and goat curry. I had the leftover sauce packed and then I re-used it for a Vegetarian Vednesday meal (I know, it's meat based sauce but still...). Totally yummy!


Top left is butter chicken sauce with firm tofu.
Bottom right is goat curry sauce with peas.
All served with quinoa rice mix.

Meatless Rotini Casserole

It was another Meatless Monday and this time I was going to experiment with tofu. I had grown up eating it Asian style...but was told that it really takes on whatever flavors you cook it in...so I was going to use it in a "meat" sauce for a pasta casserole....that didn't have meat in it.

Tofu
Tomatoes
Onion
Tomatoe paste
BBQ Sauce (for smoke)
Basil
Oregano
Parmesan
Goat's milk gouda
Tri-colored rotini

End result....it was really really good! I could still tell tofu was tofu...but it wasn't as if I was trying to hide the tofu in the first place. Now I know that I can experiment more with cooking tofu like meat. However, as most of the soy products in North America are GMO....I also have to be wary about where the tofu comes from. It's unfortunate because tofu can be so good for you otherwise.